She tapped once on the door, then a couple more times in quick succession, gently, sultry. She pulled the back of her top so it looked tighter than it really was and leaned against the door frame. She told herself that it was to get his guard down but a part of her knew she still wanted him to fancy her.

The door opened on a chain with Carl's dark brown eyes piercing through. She could only see a fraction of his face but could still make out a smile.

"Christine, come in."

The door closed and with the scrape of metal on metal the door reopened.

"A chain Carl? How very 1980s."

"Piss off Christine. There have been two break in around this area and according to the news there's been a murderer at large for the past week a few blocks over."

"You know full well it's not the news that told you there's a murderer," she paused, looking for any sign that he may be involved, nothing...

"No?"

Christine didn't break her stare, she held it that extra second to see if he'd crack. He'd always been a good liar.

How many girls had he been running around with when you were together, you never got a straight answer.

She smirked, "no silly," she said patting him on the arm with as sullen a look as she could muster, "surely you've heard through the grapevine about Lacey?"

"Oh god, no don't say she's one of the victims?"

"Oh dear Carl, sorry you hadn't heard. Yes she was last nights."

He sat down on his feet and black patchwork sofa that Christine had always hated and put his head in his hands. He ran his fingers through his thick brown hair and down to his mouth. The forefinger of each hand perched on his lips as if asking for silence.

"Christine, I have to tell you something."

"That you were fucking her. Don't worry I know."

"How?"

"I saw Olivia."

"Oh. Then did Olivi..."

"That you've been fucking her too. No but I figured it out. I mean it is Olivia, doesn't take a rocket scientist. Bet even you couldn't touch the sides there."

There was a silence. Christine's arms were crossed, towering above her ex.

"I must admit I was a bit disappointed to hear about Lacey, Olivia I had no doubt about."

A year ran down Carl's cheek. It made her think - maybe she was being a bit of an arse. Maybe he did care about Lacey as she was convinced he had once cared for her.

"Fix us a drink like I proposed in the first place Carl, we will drink to her memory."

He said nothing, just rose and walked to the kitchen. He took the bing out of an already opened bottle of red and poured himself a can of strongbow black.

* * *

"Doug, Teddy has just passed out on his door step." Scott whispered down the phone.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes of course. He fumbled around in his pocket for a key, or at least I assume that what he was looking for. He gave up, urinated in to his neighbours front door and passed out in his."

"Fuck."

"The neighbours came out and had a key so we opened the door up and threw him inside after we checked his vitals. They said they had a spare key and have had to use it the last two nights at this time. Guess he's not our killer."

""No, you're right he isn't. That means..."

"Carl?" Scott asked

"Christine!" Doug hissed, "got to go, out a fall in to get a squad to Carl Fortage's place.

He hung up the phone, threw his jacket On and went to run out before he realised he hadn't paid yet. He darted back, put a tenner on the car and left.

The phone was ringing but no one was answering. These kids putting their phones on silent all the time. He hoped it was because she was driving but he knew Christine better than that. She'd at least have it linked to her car.

He jumped in his car and tried to text.

Christine, Teddy's not the killer do not go around Carl's until I get there. There's a good chance he's the kil...

He paused. His predictive text showed a 🔪.

The whole world seemed to have stopped. He looked at his keyboard and clicked on the smiley face in the bottom left that took him to the emojis.

2.13.2/4.16.1/8.18.2/5.4.1

He remembered what Kevin had said,they were  'like coordinates.'

He went to the second block. Thirteenth column, second emoji down:

✝️ Christ

Then the fourth block, sixteenth across, top emoji:

📥 in

Eight block, eighteenth column, second down:

❓where? who? WHY!

5.4.1:

🏹 bow? Arrow!

✝️📥❓🏹

Christ in Yarrow? shit.

He sent the text as it was, turned the key and sped off.

*   *   *

Christine's phone vibrated, she ignored it as she stared in to her glass of red, swirling it as if it were brandy.

"Still drinking the girls ciders then I see?" She asked Carl.

"I like the taste, I have a sweet tooth. You also can't deny it didn't make my lips taste good."

"That's true."

Then the text came through, she glanced at her phone.

"Who's that?" He asked.

"Just Doug."

"You still hang out with that old man?"

"Hey, leave my Dougy alone, he's sweet and he cares. He's a good guy."

She saw a message from him on her home screen:

Dougy:
Christine, Teddy's not the...

She locked the screen and put it back in her bag, she didn't need to read the rest.

"Does this wine smell corked to you?" She asked, knowing full well he only bought wines with rubber corks as they were cheaper.

"I'm sure it's fine."

"Seriously, just try it, it smells off to me."

Carl took the wine and smelt it, taking a small sip. He grimaced how a child does at his first taste of brandy but held it in his mouth. He quickly took a swig of the black cider.

"Just tastes disgusting, but it's red wine so are you surprised?"

Christine smiled and took a sip, it was cheap win, not particularly great but experience told her never to expect anything else from Carl.

Conversation halted, neither knowing what to say, burying themselves in their drinks instead. Carl throwing his back like it were apple juice, Christine sipping delicately. Occasionally they would smile at each other but something began to feel off with Christine.

"When you broke it off with me Christine, it broke my heart," Carl told her.

"When you slept with all those women it broke mine," she snapped back.

She blinked a couple times, she seemed to be losing focus, feeling tired.

"Mostly because no one dumps Carl Fontage."

"Except Christine Yarrow," she replied trying to muster all the confidence she could.

She strained to see through her blurring vision and turned to look for the door. She realised he must have spat his sip back in to his cider.

"See Christine, I wanted you to come here, it's all been about you. You used to tell me about work and the people you've out smarted. You always thought you were so much cleverer than me."

He rose to look over her as she slipped on the floor and began to crawl towards the door.

"All those women, they were a message to you, guess you never truly solved this one..."